Nonfiction Monday: The Thinking Girl's Treasury of Real Princesses - Nur Jehan of India

Nonfiction Monday is hosted by Camille at A Curious Thing  

     I have never been a fan of princesses - real or imaginary.  The whole idea of "princess", as a matter of fact, with all its connotations of passivity and powerlessness, irritates me to no end.  The only princess I ever really cared for was Elizabeth - who later went on to claim her place in history as Elizabeth I.  Elizabeth was smarter than all the men in her father's court put together - she could compose poems in Latin and Greek, ride and hunt better than most of the men at court, and keep her own wise counsel in the face of all sorts of terrible court intrigue.  Now that was a princess worth emulating!

     When my students read of princesses, however, they seem to be of the Disney kind - young ladies waiting for their prince to arrive to whisk them away to uncertain but glamorous futures - yuck!  So I was thrilled to come upon this book, and discover that it was one in a series:

 

     The publisher's website decibes the series this way:

Goosebottom Books’ first series, The Thinking Girl’s Treasury of Real Princesses, came about when author Shirin Yim Bridges was inspired to turn her niece’s fascination with fairy-tale princesses into exposure to more valuable role models.
The books combine the romance and enchantment of princesses with a message of youthful female empowerment. These are princesses who didn’t just sit around waiting to be rescued. Against great odds, they made their own lives, and changed their worlds.

     Nur Jehan was certainly just such a princess.  Roughly contemporaneous of Elizabeth I, Nur Jehan was born into Persian nobility during the Mughal Empire in India.  She became the wife of the Emperor Jehangir, and was a huge influence during his reign over everything from the economy to foreign affairs to the role of women in society.  She was truly the "power behind the throne."   The name Jehangir gave her, Nur Jehan, means "light of the world" - and she was able to accomplish much during her husband's reign to bring light to many areas of governance, including the lot of women and patronage of the arts. 
Shirin Yim Bridges tells the rather complicated story of Nur Jehan's rise to power beautifully - and the text is supported by glossaries and lovely illustrations to bring this rather obscure period in history to life.  There is much that would be unfamiliar to a Western reader, let alone a middle school student, but the illustrations and vocabulary aids provide just the sort of assistance that makes the reading easier...and more interesting.
     Although I was not able to find the rest of these books in the series at my local library, I began to think of ways I could use all of them in my classroom.  I am always on the look out for books that empower the young ladies in my sixth grade classroom.  It occurred to me that I may be able to form a book club around the reading of these books - each student could read one of the titles and share what they had learned.  The group discussions could center around questions such as: what were the particular struggles this princess had to overcome?  how did she defy expectations set for the women of her time? how did she empower other women? what strides did she make in the effort to emancipate/empower women in her society?

 

Goosebottom Books has a second series, also written by Shirin Yim Bridges, called "The Thinking Girls Treasury of Dastardly Dames" - women like Cleopatra, Marie Antoinette, and Catherine de Medici:

These would certainly be entertaining additions to a classroom library - I shall have to look around for them as well!